Overview of PM Modi’s 2 day visit to Singapore

On November 14, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a 2-day visit to Singapore.

Visit Highlights:

i.He attended the 33^rd edition of the ASEAN Summit, 13^th East Asia Summit , 16^th ASEAN-India Summit and other related meetings.
ii.He also attend the 2^nd RCEP Summit Meeting on November 14, 2018.
iii.This was Prime Minister’s second visit to Singapore after the Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018.
iv.He upon his arrival had his first engagement in a keynote address, as the guest speaker, at the Indian pavilion at the Singapore Fintech Festival.
v.It was the 3^rd edition of the festival but was  first time that a Head of Government has been a keynote speaker.
vi.He launched the Application Programming Interface Exchange  (APIX) which is a platform through which the ASEAN financial institutions, innovators and users would connect with the Indian users.
vii.South African president Cyril Ramaphosa will be chief guest at the 2019 Republic Day parade of India

Summit Highlights:

33rd edition of the ASEAN Summit:
On November 15, 2018, PM Narendra Modi attended the 33rd edition of the ASEAN Summit (Nov 11 to 15) held at Suntec Singapore Convention Centre, Singapore.
i.The summit continued from November 11, 2018 and concluded the 13th East Asia Summit (EAS), 2nd Regional Comprehensive Economic Summit, (RCEP) and ASEAN plus summits.
ii.It was inaugurated and addressed by Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, current Chairman of this 2018 Summit and The theme of Singapore’s Chairmanship was “Resilient and Innovative”.
iii.The following took place in the Summit:

• Discussions on multilateralism,
• International cooperation to counter terrorism and climate change.
• Adoption of the ASEAN Smart Cities Framework,

iv.Singapore PM Lee handed over the ASEAN Chairmanship to Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Background:
India and ASEAN celebrated 25 years of their engagement in 2017, which culminated in the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit on January 25th 2018.

13th East Asia Summit (EAS):
On November 15, 2018, PM Narendra Modi attended the 13th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Singapore.
i.It was participated by leaders of 18 countries of Asia Pacific region of 10 ASEAN countries including India.
ii.It was PM Modi’s 5th East Asia Summit (EAS) and he discussed the following:

• Improving multilateral cooperation and economic and cultural ties,
• Strengthening maritime cooperation and
• Balanced Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact.

About EAS:

• The EAS consists of 10 ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

16th ASEAN-India Summit:
On November 15, 2018, PM Narendra Modi attended the 16^th ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit in Singapore.
i.It was followed by the 13^th East Asia Summit.

PM Modi gave Awards to 1st India-Singapore Hackathon:
i.The PM, on November 15, 2018, felicitated the six winning teams, including three from India, of the first India-Singapore Hackathon.
The awards ceremony was also attended by Education Minister of Singapore Ong Ye Kung.
ii.The 6 teams participated in a 36-hour Hackathon Grande Finale to showcase their innovations in Singapore that consisted of solving 8 problem statements.
iii.The Hackathon was conducted by: The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
iv.The awards consisted of:

• First prize of Singapore Dollar 10,000,
• Second prize of SGD 6,000 and
• Third prize of SGD 4,000.

v.The winning teams from India were:
¨      IIT Kharagpur, NIT Trichy and MIT College of Engineering, Pune.
vi.The winning teams from Singapore comprised of:
¨      Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Meeting Highlights:

17th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting:
i.Prior to the PM’s visit to attend the ASEAN summits, the 17th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting was held in Singapore on November 12, 2018.
ii.The meeting was attended by the ASEAN Economic Ministers and AEC Ministers.
iii.They signed the following:

• ASEAN Agreement on e-Commerce,
• ASEAN Trade in Services Agreement (ATISA) and
• The 4^thProtocol to Amend the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA).

iv.These will help in the growth of e-Commerce in the Indo-Pacific region and better digital connectivity.
v.They will further help in deepening the integration of economies and realising the AEC Blueprint 2025.

Meeting with VP of US:
On November 14, 2018, PM Narendra Modi had bilateral meeting with the Vice President of the United States Mr. Mike Pence.
i.The following discussions were held:

• Import of oil & gas from US valued at $4 billion in 2018,
• On setting up defense industry in India,
• Issue of the H1B visa,

ii.PM invited Vice President Pence to visit India in 2019.

Meeting with  Prime Minister of Singapore:
On November 14, 2018, PM Narendra Modi had bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Hsien Loong.
i.This was the third meeting between Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Modi in 2018.
ii.Prime Minister Modi congratulated Prime Minister Lee for the chairmanship of ASEAN.

Meeting with Prime Minister of Australia:
On November 14, 2018, PM Narendra Modi had bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of
Australia Mr. Scott Morrison.
i.This was the first meeting between the 2 delegates since Prime Minister Scott Morrison became the Prime Minister.
ii.Following were discussed in their meeting:
Australia’s foreign policy and

• The India Strategic Paper which has been prepared as an initiative by Australia,
• High-level engagement in three specific areas namely-  Australia investing in National Infrastructure Investment Fund, cooperation on Australian technologies for mining and on defense and security cooperation.

iii.The President of India would be visiting Australia for the first time on November 21,2018.

Meeting with Prime Minister of Thailand:
On November 14, 2018, PM Narendra Modi had bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Thailand Mr. Prayut Chan-o-cha.
i.The two Prime Minister’s reviewed the relationship as Thailand  will be the next chair of ASEAN and the country coordinator for India.
ii.They discussed about:

• projects of connectivity,
• projects of economic collaboration and
• building the India-ASEAN relations.

ASEAN:

• Full Form: Association of South East Asian Nations.
• Headquarters: Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Members (10): Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei.

Singapore:

• Capital: Singapore.
• Currency: Singapore dollar.